Meet in the Middle
by SerinaAce
Summary: Wally and Artemis get in a fight, imagine that, and have both put the other as number one on their black list. The team leaves for the night leaving the two alone without them knowing.  Boundaries are crossed, realizations hit,and the unexpected happens.
1. The Ingenious Plan

A/N: This story was originally posted on March 20. For those of you who are already familiar with this fic, you know that I took it off awhile back. I am very sorry for that. The reason I took it off was because I was almost sure I wasn't going to finish it because I found that I had no time at all to do any writing. Lately, summer has offered me loads of time I didn't think I would have. So, I've decided to finish it. But I warn you; it might take awhile. I do have to thank a friend of mine (Lunnna) because she was the one that convinced me to continue and put this back up.

Anywho, I hope you enjoy the story.

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><p><strong>The Ingenious Plan<strong>

It was deafening. Their nonstop screaming the whole flight back had left his ears throbbing. Now that Robin was all alone in the dead silence he could hear his heart beat against his sore ear drums. Unfortunately, he knew this rare silence wouldn't last long. The rest of the team would soon walk through the doors followed by _them_. There was no stopping them. Aqualad had been trying to shut them up for the whole ten minute flight back to the mountain but every time he tried, they both ganged up on him and once he was silenced, they turned back on each other. Every attempt to silence them ended in failure. They had never gotten this bad before and they were really going at it tonight.

Wally and Artemis.

Two polar opposite teens whose favorite sport was pissing the other off. They would call each other out on everything then overanalyze it then tell the other how it really should be done then get worried about the small stuff then have a fight about that till they forgot what they were fighting about in the first place. They weren't always verbally arguing (thank goodness) they usually attempted to maintain a professional manor when around the team, but the good will usually didn't last. They were always butting heads in one form or another whether it'd be the big outbursts or the small three second glares. Robin usually enjoyed watching them; it was hugely amusing to see them act like fools in attempts to prove the other wrong.

Tonight was especially entertaining. They were blowing up over the dumbest things. And it was funny. Once one would end a topic to fight about, the other couldn't handle that so they retorted to finding something else to quarrel about.

Everyone, including himself, had given up trying to control their arguments. Even in the rare silent intervals they had before they proceeded to the next round of yelling, the atmosphere was thick with their angry tension. It was nonstop tonight. Ever since that ill-sounded snap was heard on the mission, the only noise that followed it was the sound of their angry voices. He was sorely tempted to whack them both right in the throat, rendering their motor mouths useless. Actually that wasn't a bad idea but then again, Batman would be arriving in a few hours. He considered himself a pretty good liar and he knew he could come up with some excuse as to how they both 'conveniently' damaged their vocal cords. Though, it would be in vain; Batman always saw right through him.

He had purposely run ahead of the team to get a moment of complete silence. Yes, he was going_ that_ crazy from hearing them. It was funny listening to their fighting, but a guy's got to have some peace and quiet every once in a while.

He knew his moment of solitude was ending when he heard footsteps behind the door he had come through earlier. Superboy was the first to come through, M'gann and Kaldur walked in a moment after. The annoyance mixed with amusement was apparent on their faces. Right that moment, seeing their eyes click with one another, Robin knew he wasn't the only one intrigued with the ever growing fight.

For a moment all four locked eyes. They didn't need to be linked to know what each other were thinking.

'The two were made for each other and tonight just proves it' was what they were all thinking. Or at least, those were the translated vibes he was receiving from his teammates. Perhaps it was just Robin that thought that. If there was one way and one thing that really got under Wally's skin, it was joking about him and Artemis.

Robin never seriously considered that they would end up becoming an item. They would soon rather kill one another than attempt to ponder that thought. But it sure was funny to tease Wally about it. Though, he never teased Artemis on the topic. She was too scary. Plus, he was technically, in a sense, her subordinate. The hierarchy of the group wasn't quite as exaggerated as one might think but it was still there and messing with the female boss was a bad idea. Yes, she was the female boss. The position was practically hers for the taking when she joined the team. M'gann was a natural peacemaker and she does not fare well with confrontation so there was no competition there. M'gann didn't seem to mind in the least bit though.

When the sound of muffled yelling escaped through the closed door, Kaldur, Superboy, and M'gann walked closer to Robin, leaving plenty of space for the approaching hot heads.

"We will all put in our reports separately tonight and then reconvene to review the information tomorrow," Kaldur said in a collective tone as he walked over to the computer.

"Alright," Robin said as he followed Kaldur to the computer. The voices behind the door on the other side of the room were getting louder.

"I will be leaving as soon as I am done. I am needed in Atlantis."

_Lucky_ Robin thought to himself as he nodded his understanding. He didn't bother to ask why he had to go because at that moment, he truly didn't care to know.

"Superboy and I are going to go to a movie premiere tonight. Would you like to come with us Robin?" M'gann asked with a small smile. It had originally been Robin's idea to get everyone to go to the movie premier but he had to cancel a week ago. Though, he miraculously found a way to clear his midnight schedule. Hopefully Batman left before then.

"Sure I'll tag along," Robin said casually. He took note that she did not mention Wally and Artemis. They were probably just going to end up fighting about their opinions about the movie if they came. He cleverly devised a plan to leave the two here by themselves without them knowing. They would be left alone to duke it out. Hehe. This was going to be fun.

Three loud stomps were heard and he and the team looked over at the door in time to see an angry Wally burst through.

"Give it back!" Artemis yelled as she trailed Wally not two feet behind him.

"Look! Right here! It's fixable and it doesn't take a genius to see it!"

Artemis grabbed her broken bow from Wally's hands, "This tip is bent! I can't use it if it looks like this!"

"I can't believe you are so worried about that little dent! You've got like three bows and I'm sure GA can fix this one that so happens to be the most _precious of them all_!" he emphasized the last words in a mocking tone.

"Don't act like this is just some toy! I was left completely vulnerable because of you!"

Artemis was heading straight for a door leading to another hall. Clearly, she was not going to stick around for the team debrief. This gave Robin both the need for concern and another reason to laugh about. He tried hard to keep himself composed but an amused smile was starting to make its way onto his face. Wally spotted his leaving offender and not a second later, was hot on her heels as they continued to argue.

"What! You're pulling that on me _AGAIN_? I saved your life! You should be thanking me not screaming at me just because I forgot to grab your stupid bow before the beam crushed it!"

"This bow is my ticket to survival out there and without it, I would have been good as dead anyways! And I didn't need your help! I could have gotten myself out of that situation by myself _and_ with my bow!"

"What is your problem tonight? It's like you are criticizing every breath I take!"

"Ugh! I can't believe you have the nerve to ask me that! You are so blinde if you can't see how much you irritate me!"

"Oh boohoo for you Miss Princess and I am nothing but nice to you all the time! And FYI I can't read your mind, so don't expect me to pick up all these 'stay away from Artemis' vibes! I can't make heads or tails of these little mixed signals you are sending me! One minute your fine and the next, your angry!"

"Open your eyes Wally and get it through that thick skull of yours that being constantly nagged by you is pissing me off!"

Her last words were followed by her slamming the door nearly hitting Wally in the face. Silence filled the room. When he turned to look at the team, he was nearly steaming from his ears.

Yup, they were made for each other. Fighting like an old married couple. You'd think one of them would get a clue.

But no, just more fighting.

That's exactly what he had been hearing all night repeatedly. Though, their last little encounter that he just witnessed didn't make much sense, then again, none of their fights made sense. Sometimes he suspected they just came up with odd things so that they could argue about them. Did they know they were just repeating that pointless conversation over and over and over again? Probably not. Artemis's pride wouldn't let her thank Wally for saving her from the steel beam that nearly killed her. Robin could understand why she would be so upset and would understand a few harsh words from her to Wally about her favorite bow now broken in three with a dent before she stomped off and cooled down.

But Wally's ego wouldn't let her go. He was so driven to prove his points and by the need to have the last word that he had been pressing the matter to death. Once the challenge was clear, neither of them would let it go because that would show submission to the other. Which to them was a big no no. It was an ever pressing battle to see who held superiority between them.

"Remind me again why we even allowed her to be on this team?" He yelled with his arms raised in the air.

Robin turned and looked at the rest of his team behind him. No one appeared to be willing to answer his question. Wally knew full well why she became part of this team. He'd asked numerous times and gotten the same answer on each occasion. He just wanted to see if anyone would take his side with this dispute. But there were no sides he, Superboy, M'gann or Kaldur would take. Simply because it was just Artemis and Wally. Nothing to worry or throw a fit about. He was surprised to find Superboy lightly smiling. Seeing Superboy smile was rare.

"What?" Though he couldn't see Wally, he was that it was pointed at Superboy.

Without a word and still smiling, Superboy turned and began to head down the hall. M'gann was trying to hide her own smile as she took flight and followed him. At this rate, no one was going to take Wally and Artemis seriously anymore. They were just too darn funny. Suddenly M'gann stopped midair and turned to Wally.

"Oh, Wally I forgot to tell you tonight-"

"Batman is coming to debrief us in two hours so don't go anywhere," Robin cut in as he took a few steps closer into the room.

M'gann looked at him quizzically. Robin just twitched the corner of his lip at her and, positioned so Wally couldn't see it, briefly held up his hand with one finger up signaling to wait a minute. Hopefully she knew what the gesture meant. Wally didn't answer back, for reasons unknown, and just folded his arms while the annoyed look on his face was still present as he glared at the door his personal fiend had disappeared through.

_I was going to tell him about the movie tonight._

_I know but I think we should just leave him and Artemis here. They need to work out some issues on their own._

_Oh, uh, okay._

Truth was, they would never work out their issues. They enjoyed each other's company too much; wink wink. Like he said before, it was just entertaining knowing that he was going to leave Wally with his archenemy. And that it was his idea.

When he looked back over at his teammates he was surprised to find that Kaldur had already left. M'gann caught up to Superboy who was about to turn the corner. Once they were gone, Wally and Robin were the only ones in the room. He was surprised that Wally didn't make some sort of flirty comment before M'gann disappeared. He was usually right on top of that, no pun intended. He concluded that there was nothing more to be said and began to head for a hall, unsure of where he was headed exactly. Showers. Yeah, that would be a good idea. A sudden gust of air rushed past him from behind.

"How can you stand her?"

Robin stopped and turned around to face Wally, who was now only four feet from him. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "I'm not on her bad side, I think. Besides, I'm not always challenging her. She doesn't have a reason to be mad at me and neither do I."

"I'm not always challenging her! She's just plain rude to me! Especially tonight! Was there something I said or did to her that pissed her off so much?"

Robin smirked.

"I think you two just need to kiss and make up."

"Don't even joke like that man!" he said with a raised voice.

Robin raised his hands up in a surrendering position to calm him down. Though, his gesture was not genuine, just an act to make his friend feel better.

"Okay, but don't expect me to take sides."

Wally was silent for a moment as he scrunched the corner of his mouth, "And for a minute there I thought you were my friend."

Robin laughed at his crude solemn tone, "I think you guys should just meet in the middle since neither of you can agree on anything."

"Huh?"

Clueless as expected.

"You're stubborn. She's a spitfire. Your guy's personalities need to find a middle ground and learn to get along. Then again, you could always keep up this, entertaining, game of tug-of-war. I know I'd never get tired of it."

Wally's features suddenly changed as he fell silent again. He seemed somewhat awestruck. That was weird. Wally usually had some sort of come back to throw at him. Wait a second, his smile widened as realization hit him. Yeah, that's right; Robin's advice usually had that effect on people. While still maintaining the smirk on his face, he turned and headed down the hall leaving a dumbfounded Wally in the room.

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><p>AN: I'll be updating till it's back up to chapter five. The new chapter six won't be far behind that.

Once again, I am sorry for those of you who were following the story to suddenly find it gone.

So, are you mad? Do you hate me? Do you hate the fic? Do you love it? Tell me everything! I gotta know...

-SerinaAce


	2. Trouble Maker

A/N: Thank you all for the amazing reviews! Sorry for the mistakes that have slipped my eye and that I know are in there..

Anywho, in this chapter some things may sound over exaggerated and unusual but remember, it's Wally's POV. He over exaggerates just about everything. So when things sound a bit odd, yeah just remember it's him.

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><p><strong>Trouble (Maker)<strong>

His footsteps echoed throughout the concrete hallway as he approached a turn. He had been wandering around for the past forty five minutes. Just examining every room in the mountain trying to find something interesting to mess around with. However, there was nothing to do in the boring massive cave. He would much rather go home and hit the sack but dear old Bats had ordered the team to stay the night. There was some sort of mission planning going on tomorrow morning.

Early too. Joy.

He didn't know many details about it. When Batman came to debrief them a few hours ago, he had also told them about tomorrows plans, which he didn't hear. He was too busy planning his weekend schedule and staring at M'gann to pay attention. All he heard was something about a bomb somewhere in Africa they were supposed to investigate and yada yada. Nothing terribly exciting.

_She_ was also in the room distracting him. At parts of the brief he would truly try to pay attention to what Batman was saying (scouts honor) but then he would feel that slime burning holes in his back with her eyes. He would turn around to go give her the 'cut it out' gesture, but she wouldn't get the hint. Therefore, it was her fault that he missed a good chunk of the brief. He resolved in glaring back at her. If she was going to play this game, then so was he.

Unfortunately, Batman had caught him glaring at Artemis and asked if there was a problem. He held his tongue and simply said no. But Batman's scowling stare was enough to give him the 'you are acting immature' notion. Once he started talking again he looked over at Artemis who then had a smirk on her face. Clearly making fun of him. He was tempted to yell at her but resisted the urge. Of course he would be the only one to get in trouble, for she was the favored one. She was still pissed at him for breaking her bow. However, if she were sane, she would see that it wasn't his fault.

While on their mission, a truck had slammed into one of the building's columns and that caused the place to shake. The steel beam on the other side of the room broke apart and was ready to smash Artemis who was waking up from a bad knock out one of the bad guys had been responsible for. He could have just left her there to be crushed but he didn't. Wally had standards. And one of those standards was to help those who needed him if he could. Unfortunately, that included Artemis. He couldn't just watch her die. Even if he told himself it served her right. So he did the right thing and saved her.

But lo and behold, he did it wrong. He didn't save her precious bow while he was at it and that was reason enough for her to forget that she would be dead if it weren't for him. So for the rest of the night she chewed him out for _everything_. First it was her bow, then it was how rude he was, then it was his manors, and on from there. Since she didn't have her bow, she was an open target so he, being the good guy he is, stayed with her to make sure she didn't get hurt. But the whole time he was acting as a shield, she was throwing insults at him. While he was trying to protect her. Who does that?

It was dumb really, they were able to get her bow before they left. And clearly, after examining it, it was fixable. Albeit, sure there was a dent. But that could be fixed too! He could fix it himself if he really had to. Unfortunately, he was now not allowed anywhere near her bow, that much she made clear. He didn't care though, touching anything that belonged to her was sure to give him some sort of brain-eating virus. She always had to blame everything on him. Every little screw up that happened on every mission was his fault. But he knew the real truth. It was actually her fault and he had plenty of evidence to back him up. He was just waiting for the right moment to expose her.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard his stomach growl. He hadn't eaten in… He held up his fingers as he counted how long it had been since his last meal. An hour. Wow, no wonder he was feeling tired. He turned on his heel and headed in the direction of the kitchen. He was walking at a normal pace, not feeling the need to rush things. Sometimes speeding through everything left him with too much time on his hands, which, in this place, would make him go even more stir crazy than he already was. Sure he could go to sleep in 'his' room, but he wasn't _that_ tired to go fall asleep on that rock of a mattress.

He vaguely wondered where his team was. He hadn't seen anybody for the past three hours he'd been wandering around. They were probably asleep seeing as it was fairly late into the night. He didn't need to go to bed. He was a teenager so that gave him the privilege of being a night owl and he intended to take advantage of that even if there was a early morning brief tomorrow.

Robin was usually always up at this hour, since his work schedule consisted of the graveyard shift half the time. He changed his mind on going to go find Robin as he remembered he was still hungry. And what he had said to him earlier. Robin had mentioned that he and Artemis should find a middle ground. Was he kidding? Sure he could do it if he really wanted to, but not Artemis. She was always nagging him about something or pointing every single one of his flaws out. She would also boss him around nonstop. He tried to be nice. He truly did. But Artemis was impossible to work with. End of story.

Robin had also mentioned that she was a spitfire. Though he hadn't really noticed it before, Artemis was the literal definition of a spitfire. He had to agree with Robin on that one, she sure was mean like one. Mr. Nelson had once given him advice to find his own little spitfire to keep. One that would be his match and one that wouldn't let him get away with anything. Artemis may be a spitfire but really? Him and Artemis? Oh, hell no. Not in a million years. Wally had never despised a person as much as he despised that blonde archer. She got under his skin in every way humanly possible and did everything she could to make his life miserable. Not to mention that today was the last straw; his patience had run out for that chick. She was now number one on his black list.

Now that he thought about it, he didn't want his own spitfire. Why on earth would anyone want to have one of those as a lover? Constantly nagging you all day, faultfinding beyond belief, and unappreciative of everything. It didn't make sense. Mr. Nelson seemed like a wise old guy and he did have good advice to give. Wally had an eye opening experience with the stuff that guy had to say. He was right about a few things but not on that one topic. Go find his own personal fishwife. Hm.

He had a better idea.

No.

He walked through archway and into the lounge. His eyes locked on his target as he made his way to the kitchen. He wondered if there were any cookies left; he had been craving one since he got back from the mission. However, a soda sounded more tempting at the moment. He was about three feet from the fridge when he heard an odd clicking sound from the other side of the room. He whipped around, startled, and stared at the point of origin the noise had come from.

On the floor next to the couch was none other than the assailant herself. On the ground next to her was an open box containing various tools, some were scattered around her on the floor. A long thick black string was balled up and on the edge of the sofa along with what looked like a handle. She was cross legged and intently huddled over her bow, the same one that was recently broken. She looked to be tightening a screw of some sort near the middle section. Her bow that had once been in three pieces was now whole again. See he knew it. It could be fixed. Just throw the string and handle on and bam. Good as new.

She must have sensed him staring because she abruptly stopped and turned her head in his direction. She jumped when she saw him and dropped her bow while she was at it.

"Gah! Don't sneak up on me like that!" She said angrily as she grabbed her bow off the ground.

"Whoa, calm down."

She quickly grabbed a screw driver and began to pound her bow with it.

"What are you doing here?" She muttered while still looking down.

"You're in the lounge, which has a snack bar connected to it."

He would bet a hundred bucks she just rolled her eyes after hearing that. A sight he had become all too familiar with. She was always criticizing his eating habits. He couldn't help it. Fast metabolism and all. He turned back around to grab the fridge handle when he realized he was still staring. He guessed he was just waiting for her to give him some smart-aleck comment after his statement. She usually had one ready. That was odd.

He examined the fridge contents and concluded that a Mountain Dew would suffice. He opened the can and took a huge gulp. As he stared around the kitchen he heard another click come from Artemis working on her bow. Naturally, his eyes followed his ears as he looked back over at the archer. He felt his curiosity pique and quietly walked over to the green couch's edge, making sure she didn't hear his approach. He took another sip of soda as he watched her screw a few more bolts in. It was amazing that that thing wasn't a pile of flat medal after having a three ton beam smash it. Must be made of titanium or something.

She stopped working and her shoulders scrunched up. She turned back to Wally with a glare already on her face.

"What?" He asked when she said nothing.

"I can feel your eyes on me and it's distracting me."

"From what? Fixing your bow? It looks done to me."

"Well it's not so stop boring holes in my back. It's creepy."

"I bet if it were anyone else in my place you wouldn't mind."

"You're right. If it was _anyone_ but you I wouldn't mind."

Now it was his turn to roll his eyes. Artemis wasn't always this snappy. In fact he was a little surprised she was still as mad as she was earlier.

She turned back to her bow, grabbing another screw. Wally walked around the couch's edge and plopped down, still watching Artemis. He knew she was going to get irritated by it. Too bad. It was time he gets his revenge for her mocking him when he got in trouble with Batman earlier. He had recently discovered that his mere presence annoyed her; especially if it was just the two of them. He being in the same room watching her was enough to irritate her. And make an amusing show for him.

As he examined her bow again he noticed that it looked fine. He could tell she was almost done. Earlier she had been yelling at him that it was permanently damaged.

"See it's not broken, it's good as new."

"Yeah, after hours of me working on it nonstop," she grabbed the black string from the couch and began to hook it up, "and it's all scratched up now. No thanks to you."

Hmph. Of course she had to throw that last remark in. He had the sudden urge to yell at her and tell her for the hundredth time that night that it wasn't his fault. He held his tongue though, she wanted him to answer. That's the only reason she said it. He wasn't going to surrender.

It was only then that he noticed Artemis's appearance. She was still wearing her green uniform but her head piece was gone, revealing her face. Her arm guards were also off. Her hair was a little out of whack. A few strands of hair were cast in front of her face while a couple in the back were loosely hanging against her neck. There were a few dirt smudges on her arm and a small one on her chin and even more on her top and pants.

"You're a mess," He said without really thinking.

She turned and shot him a glare, "What are you, the appearance police? I have been working on this thing since we got back and haven't exactly had time to freshen up."

"Still, you look like a wreck."

She continued to glare at him but her eyes caught him sipping his soda and followed his hand as he hung it over the edge of the arm rest. She bit the top of her lip then set her bow on the ground. When she stood up, Wally vaguely thought it was because she was going to come and smack him for some unknown offense he may have been responsible for. But to his surprise, she passed him and headed into the kitchen.

As she passed him, his eyes unintentionally wandered to an unusual spot. Since when did she have abs? He had never noticed that before. He always knew her stomach line was revealed by the cut in her uniform but he had never taken a good look before. He never noticed she had muscle in that area. What else had he missed about her appearance? He did a double take and found that he had missed a lot. Thick legs, hour glass shaped, curvy. In one second this not-beautiful brat had turned into a gorgeous model-could-be. Even in her un-showered appearance she was somewhat attractive. He tilted his head slightly. He never thought Artemis could be…

_Ah! What are you doing? _He questioned himself as he discarded that thought. She may be attractive, okay, she may be _very_ attractive, but that did not change the fact that she was his nemesis. His number one enemy. She did not deserve to be thought of that way. Especially by him, Wally West, THE Kid Flash. He was too good for her.

She passed behind him and he turned his head, his questioning gaze still on her. Hm. How was it that he had never noticed this before? Oh wait, she was too busy yelling at him and getting in his face about everything. What gave that imp the right to look like that? It didn't make sense. His eyes wandered up to her face and what he was met with nearly made his heart stop.

Artemis was still walking to the kitchen but her head was turned toward him. Her eyes were flat on his.

Crud. Caught in the act.

Her face was full of confusion and she was also giving him a what-the-hell-are-you-doing kind of look. Right that second he knew for a fact she had seen everything. He quickly whipped his head in the other direction, no longer facing her. She seemed unphased by his little assessment because she kept her pace heading towards the kitchen. Great. Just great. Not only had he caught himself checking her out but _she_ did as well. The _one_ time he happened to slip. He felt his cheeks turn a cherry red as he sunk back in the sofa wishing he could disappear forever. Oh, the humiliation. Being the cruel person she was, she was sure to use this against him in the future. Ugh. Why on earth did he let himself get carried away like that? And it wasn't even that bad! It was just a quick once over.

As he sat and tried to get his billboard-of-embarrassment off his face he heard her grab a cup from the cupboard. Maybe it was just him but the air in the room was growing uncomfortably awkward. One second thought, he knew it was him. He made a mental note to never let himself get caught doing that again. Or to even think of doing it. He heard the sink come on and sounds of a cup being filled with water. Once the water was shut off, the room was silent for a long, agonizing moment. He could all but sense that the girl across the room was looking at him with a big smirk on her face.

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><p>The long damp hallway was pitch black as the two men swiftly made their way down it. Their footsteps in sync with the sound of dripping water coming off the moss covered walls. The masked man pulled out a device as it signaled they were almost there and that their target was in sight. He stopped in front of a series of pipes running from the ceiling and down back into the ground as his dark haired partner followed his lead. He pulled out a handheld light and stuck it on the ground. The dim light was enough to illuminate the sight before them.<p>

"Get the device. We are running out of time."

The dark haired man flung the bag that was over his shoulder onto the ground and pulled out large circular object that had a flow of wires coming out from one end. The red lights on it signal that it was active and read for use. Without a word, the masked man took it from him as the other began to set up a contraption that would allow them to remove the solid metal of the pipes to get to what they needed most.

"How long will it take?" The masked man asked.

"Not long, but getting into the system will take some time."

"Alright but work fast. We do not want to give anyone time to find us."

"Is the operative ready to move in?"

"Yes, once the system is looped I will give the order to proceed."

The sound of a blade sawing against medal replaced the sound of their talking. As the dark haired man worked on getting through the medal, the masked man stared up at the moss covered ceiling above him. Though they were three hundred feet below what they had come for, they were closer than they had ever been before. They had remained undetected so far and with every passing second, they were getting closer to their objective.

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><p>AN: Whoa. Looks like there's going to be trouble tonight! A little bit of the plot is starting to take shape now. I just have to ask…

How many of you saw that coming?

Haha well, hope you liked it! Review!:)

-SerinaAce


	3. Change of Mind

A/N: A Pilot is also, in the computer world, referred to as a device that has access to motor controls for electronic objects. In other words, it's a small control panel. (Don't worry, this will make sense about half way through the story.)

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><p><strong>Change of <strong>**Heart**** Mind**

Wally eyed the girl in the kitchen suspiciously. She was busy writing down something on a calendar. What, he hadn't the slightest clue. He didn't even know there was a calendar there. The only reason he was still in the same room as her after that little fiasco that happened a few minutes ago was to try and explain himself before she settled with the wrong thought. Oh, no. He was not checking her out, no. He was simply criticizing her filthy appearance and he was going to inform her of that the moment he got the chance. He was waiting for her to make the first move though. He had to be clear what her game plan was before he proceeded.

His suspicions turned out to be incorrect. She did not have a devilish grin on her face, silently laughing at him, when she was in the kitchen like he had suspected. She was acting like nothing happened. Wally wasn't quite sure what to do with that. She had never blown him off before. Never. She always had something to say on every subject. He'd thought she would have had tons to say to him about, er, what happened. But she was silent and had been that way for the past five minutes.

He started sliding his soda can from one hand to another across the marble counter top. He was sitting at the bar now, he had felt the need to get closer to her to analyze every move she made. Making sure he didn't miss anything. She grabbed her glass off the counter and turned around. She jumped a little when she saw him at the bar. She must have not heard him. The blank look on her face was replaced with an annoyed one. Clearly, she did not like him looking at her with suspicion on his face.

"What?" she asked in an aggravated tone.

"Nothing," he muttered.

She was silent for a moment and just looked at him. He could feel an odd tension rise between them. Wally took this as her signal as a challenge for a staring contest but as he narrowed his eyes at her, hers moved. She was looking him up and down, seemingly taking in every detail of his appearance from the neck down. This caught him off guard and he unintentionally shifted slightly. He felt uncomfortable under her judgmental gaze. What was she doing? Was this how she was getting him back from earlier? When her facial expression turned to 'displeased' he felt his face redden slightly with a mix of anger and embarrassment. She had better not have see through vision.

"You know, I don't know why you are criticizing me for wearing my costume. Apparently, you like to run around in yours too."

Wally's eyes shifted down as he stared at his own costume. Yeah, so what if he wanted to wear it. He felt cool when he was in it. Was it a crime to wear a piece of clothing he owned? He thought not.

"Hey, I wasn't doing any criticizing, at least not with what you're wearing. Just that you look like you could use a shower."

She smirked, "Uh, huh. Right."

He wasn't quite sure what she was referring to as far as the tone of her voice was concerned. Was that her secretly telling him that she _knew_? He stayed silent while staring at her, waiting for some sort of answer the question he would not ask.

"Why are you looking at me like I committed a crime or something?"

"I'm not, I'm just thinking."

"Well go think somewhere else." He could detect the trace of venom that she made an effort of to put in her voice. She began to head out of the kitchen. Apparently, she was dropping the subject, and taking on a harsh attitude while at it.

Sheesh. Looks likes it's someone's time of the month.

"What's your problem?"

She froze before she could turn the corner of the counter. The way she halted and the dead silence that followed was a clear signal that an eruption was coming. Ah crap. He should have brought a fire extinguisher. That was a bad question. Bad idea. Oh well, too late now.

She turned back to face him her familiar glare on her face.

"What is my problem? Use your brain Wally! I am still furious with you or do you not remember what you did a few hours ago?"

Oh, that's right. He was still mad at her for yelling at him earlier nonstop. And apparently, she was still mad about the bow thing. Why couldn't she just see that it wasn't his fault? Why? This little back and forth banter about the day's earlier events was really starting to get on his nerves now. He tried to tell her what really happened but she just would not listen. She had to be right. Always. Even when she was clearly wrong. And he knew darn well she that she was wrong and he was right.

"You know, I seem to remember me saving you! You do realize that you would be dead if it weren't for me right?"

"I was already in the process of getting out of that situation when you decided to speed in! If you had just left me alone I could have gotten out with my bow _not_ broken into three pieces! And that's not the only reason I'm angry! All night you've been constantly yelling at me and I'm done with it!"

This was beginning to sound very familiar. Had they not been having this conversation all flipping night? As of right then, he was officially burned out. They had been arguing about this for too long. Usually, he wouldn't stop till his point was proven but there was no point yelling at a brick wall. Even he sometimes knew when enough was enough. Ugh.

_Fine you win! _He mentally yelled at her.

He couldn't say it out loud. That would give her another reason to think that she could walk all over him and that he wouldn't be bugged by it. He just stared at her with an irritated expression. She glared back at him, apparently waiting for an answer but he stayed silent. She turned back to leave the kitchen and walked over to the couch. He watched her fall onto the couch, placing her glass on the table at her feet. She then picked her bow up off the ground, and started messing with it again.

This was so aggravating. He felt tempted to march over there and land his point. But he held still. At this rate, she was never going to let this go, he was going to hear about this every single day from now on. He would go crazy if that happened. What would it take for her to forget the whole broken bow thing?

Robins words from earlier suddenly came to mind. Find a middle ground. That thought made him cringe slightly. Not from the idea itself, but rather what it would mean. If he found a middle ground with Artemis, it would be weird. Him and Artemis's communication was basically just fighting, yelling, and disagreeing. If they agreed to get along, that would mean that he had to intentionally be nice to her. Which was weird. Being nice to Artemis would make things…awkward.

He was going to discard that idea but remembered his current predicament. He would be hounded by Artemis for the rest of his life if he didn't do something. Suddenly, the idea of meeting in the middle didn't sound so bad compared to what could happen.

He slid off the bar stool and walked over the couch, behind Artemis and contemplated. Meet in the middle huh? Sounded easy enough, but how to start?

_Hey Artemis so I was thinking that we should stop fighting and meet in the middle. And that we should be nice to each other from now on, which would make us best friends forever._

Yeah, he would probably get slapped for saying that. As he played it out in his mind he couldn't help but feel weak, like he was giving Artemis the upper hand. Then again, if they did call a truce, there wouldn't be any need to worry about such things. And besides, it wouldn't exactly be surrendering, just evening things out.

He could mention the idea, but he knew she would shoot it down. He needed some sort of leverage to get her to agree with it. Maybe he should give her chocolate? He remembered hearing somewhere that girls had a weakness for chocolate; like it was their own personal dog treats. If he gave her that, maybe she would be more open-minded. Maybe giving her chocolate for every time she started yelling at him would silence her. And then while he was at it, he could teach her tricks.

He quickly swallowed the eruption of laughter that threatened to make its way out. The idea of…you know what, he wasn't even going to think about it. Wow, leave it to him to get _completely_ side tracked while trying to be serious. He discarded the thought of using chocolate. That was just dumb, and it would be weird. He'd have to use that idea some other time.

He thought for a moment of what he should do. He suspected that in the back of his mind, knew what he had to do already. He just wouldn't let himself consider the possibly of it till now. This was going to be a major blow to his ego. Not to mention what would happen if his plan went south. He concluded that he would give it a try to 'meet in the middle' but if she shoots him down, he's done. For good this time. He took a breath and fully faced Artemis. Well, here goes everything.

* * *

><p>The sounds of ripping medal were suddenly replaced by a ghostly silence in the dark tunnel. A large bunch of wires were now exposed to the damp air. The dark haired man began hooking them up to a device he was holding. He had to be extremely cautious, if he misjudged even the smallest detail, they would be discovered. Their mission would be over.<p>

The masked man took out his radio when a voice began to call from the other side.

_"Sir, we are in position."_

"Good, send it to the safe line and wait for further instructions."

As he put his radio down, a brilliant blue light lit up in front of them. The man on the ground had finished rerouting the wires and had a list of the contents on the holographic screen before him. After passing through a few files, he came to a halt and one in particular.

"There is a small problem."

"What?"

"I am able to loop the system but as soon as the upload is started, an energy surge will be sent out. And since we can only operate on secondary systems, there is nothing I can do to prevent it."

"Will that prevent the android from uploading the virus?"

"No, it won't. It will probably only effect energy flow to the lights and other nonessential systems."

"No one is in the cave to detect it. There shouldn't be a problem."

He pressed a few buttons, pulling up over thirty video feeds on the screen, "As long as no one decides to come back. If only I could be the one going in. I could do it in half the time that robot can."

"If the life signs detector was not linked to the mainframe, then you could. If you did go in there, you would be detected the second you stepped foot inside. It does not change our situation though, so work fast with what you have."

"Yes sir," he said as he scanned and tagged each and every one of the video feeds. Once everyone of them was tagged, he typed in a code. The screen flashed an orange color, signaling that the videos were looped. It would not be detected, and now the android could move around the base freely.

"It's done."

The masked man grabbed his radio. "Send it in and transfer all motor controls to the Pilot station with me. I also want someone to bring the boy to me, we may need him. Everyone clear the area. We do not want the Justice League suspecting anything if they should return sooner. Contact me if anything looks suspicious as for now, I am ordering radio silence. Over and out."

"Why are you ordering radio silence?"

"We may be operating on a unique wave, but I will not be taking any chances tonight. We have worked too long and too hard for this."

He dark haired man just shook his head in his understanding as he went through what files were available to him. Everything was working according to plan so far.

* * *

><p>It was finished finally. She held her bow up a little higher on her lap to admire her handy work. It had taken her all day, but she did it. And frankly, she was quite proud of herself for doing it on her own and not having to call Green Arrow for assistance. It was whole again and the dent was gone, aside from a few scratches, it looked usable again. She suddenly became annoyed for remembering how she got in this situation in the first place. Wally just <em>had<em> to break the one thing she treasured most out of her hero collection. Good thing it was fixable.

She became aware that the room was a little silent; too silent. She was starting to feel uncomfortable in the void. The room may be silent, but the tension between her and Wally was there. maybe it was just her, but it felt like they were having a silent battle with each other. Wally was acting weird tonight, well, weirder than he usually did. He kept giving her 'the eye', or better known as, a suspicious look. She wondered if this was some sort of new tactic to get under her skin he was trying out. Even if it wasn't, it was working.

Ever since he walked in here, he'd been following her, literally. Maybe not right on her heels but every time she went somewhere, he followed her giving her his new creepy look. He was giving her that very look right now and she could feel it. She wondered why he was still even in the same room as her. After tonight's previous events, she was sure he wanted nothing more to do with her. She will admit, she really was frying him in the pan tonight. But the thing is, he deserved it. He was unbelievably annoying, and she made sure she informed him tonight about it. Because if she didn't, who would?

She silently wondered why _she_ was even in the same room as him. She considered getting up and leaving but decided to stay put. One, because she was here first, and two, she had a mess to clean up. She was about to reach down to start collecting the tools she used to put her bow back together when Wally spoke behind her.

"I'm sorry."

Artemis froze.

…..what did he just say?

* * *

><p>AN: I feel like I've left you with two cliffhangers…

So, a review would be awesome:)

-SerinaAce


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